Dubai:
Second seeded Alejandra Salazar Bengoechea and Marta Marrero waged a grim battle lasting a little over four hours to sedate Elisabeth Amatriain Armas and Patricia Llaguno Zielinski 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 and advance to the women’s final at the inaugural Dubai Padel Masters on Friday.
Tipped to win easily following their comfortable 6-3, 6-3 quarter-final win against Carolina Navarro Bjork and Cecilia Reiter late on Thursday, the second seeds started off well winning the opening set 6-3. But the underdogs refused to give up as they fought back to take the second set 6-4 and force a deciding third set.
Things were tight in the decider with both pairs breaking each other on a couple of occasions each. After being tied 6-6 Bengoechea and Marrero played a focused tiebreaker to win 7-1 and advance to the final that will be played on Saturday evening.
Their opponents in Saturday’s final will be the winner of the second semi-final that was being played between the top-ranked pair of Maria Jose Sanchez Alayeto and Maria Pilar Sanchez Alayeto and the top-10 ranked pairing of Victoria Iglesias and Catalina Tenorio.
“The first thing we need to do is enjoy this win. We always knew it was going to be a tough match and we had planned our strategy accordingly. We faltered a bit after winning the first set, but then we did enough to win the semi-final in the end,” Bengoechea told Gulf News.
“Now our main aim is to have a good rest and get prepared for yet another tough match in tomorrow’s final,” she added.
Held under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, this is the first time-ever that an international paddle competition is being held in the UAE.
Meanwhile, the men’s finalists were also scheduled to be decided later on Friday with the top four pairings in the fray. Carlos Daniel Gutierrez and Juan Mieres Petruf were scheduled to take on Francisco Navarro Compan and Matias Diaz Sangiorgo in the first semi-final, while the top-ranked Fernando Belasteguin and Pablo Lima were scheduled to take on Juan Martin Diaz and Maximiliano Sanchez.
The two finals will be held at the NAS Sports Complex at 6pm onwards on Saturday. Entry for general public is absolutely free with at least one person standing a chance of winning a brand-new Range Rover from sponsors Al Tayer Motors.
